Factors Associated with Emotional Distress in Children and Adolescents during Early Treatment for Cancer

Children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer experience emotional distress, such as sadness, worrying, and irritability. However, there is little information about the psychological well-being of parents at the time of their child's diagnosis. We sought to identify factors that were associated with emotional distress in cancer patients as a basis for developing innovative psychological interventions. A retrospective chart review was performed on patients newly diagnosed with cancer at a single center in Korea from 2014 to 2016. Eighty-five patients and their mothers completed psychological inventories. To determine factors associated with emotional distress in patients, we assessed the psychological inventory results using multiple linear regression after performing correlation analysis. The maternal Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score was positively correlated with total problem scores and externalizing scores in patients aged less than 7 years. In patients aged 7-12 years, there was no significant association between the patient's emotional distress and other variables. In contrast, the maternal BDI-II score was the strongest factor associated with patient depression in adolescents. We suggest that the most important factor affecting emotional distress in children and adolescents with cancer is maternal depression, especially in patients aged 1-6 years and aged 13-17 years. Understanding the factors associated with emotional distress of cancer patients allows us to develop early psychiatric interventions for patients and their parents at the initial psychological crisis.